It was a day to remember in Frostburg State
University as the City of Frostburg held its annual Appalachian Festival. The
festivities began with the film festival which began on Thursday and then
concluded with a Saturday night concert. A cluster of events, however, were on
Saturday, which included some of the top musicians from around western Maryland
and West Virginia, and Pennsylvania. Some of the musicians that comprised of
this line-up were Ray Owen, Garrett Highlands Pipe and Drums, Blue Shades, and
Allegany County’s own Grand Ole’ Ditch.
The repertoire of musicians also included the father
and daughter duo of Kathleen and Ed Myers from Keyser, West Virginia. Kathleen
Myers started gaining an interest in music at the early age of five when she
started playing the fiddle. Ever since then, she has gained a strong reputation
as a gifted fiddler. There is reason why she would be recognized as that being
that she has placed first second, or third in a number of Maryland state competitions.
With achievements such as these, it was hard for her father not to let her join
alongside and start performing with him.
The duo made their way to Frostburg State University’s
campus to five the people of sample of their musical talents. The weather was
not really fitting for a festival as it was raining throughout the performance
and for most of the festival. As Frostburg residents know, the temperature can
start to drop anytime from late September. This was true for Saturday,
September 21 as the chilly weather started to kick in. However, this did not
deter people from coming out to listen to what the father-daughter duo had to
offer.
A group of about twenty, no more than twenty-five
people crowded into a tent to avoid getting soaked from the heavy rain and
listen as Ed and Cathy Myers played their country tunes. They played their own
renditions of well-known songs. I had no idea what the names of these songs
were but could tell they were popular just by the vibes that the audience was
showing. Even if it wasn’t a full-fledged concert, it felt as though everybody
connected in a way. People could feel the
chemistry between the Myers as they would crack jokes in between songs and I
could see the enthusiasm on their faces as they were performing. Ed would also change
between his guitar and banjo for different songs while Cathy was strictly
playing on her fiddle. At the end of their performance, the crowd showed their
appreciation with a large round of applause. The host then insisted for an
encore by saying “how about one more”. Someone in the crowed subsequently added
“five more”. The crowd responded to that statement with an uproar of laughs.
One of the audience members described the whole performance as great and is
happy that the rain “didn’t put a damper on things”.
To get more stories on Kathleen Myers and the Myers
family you can visit this website http://www.mountaindiscoveries.com/stories/ss2002/myers_plain.html
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